Its first commander was Air Marshal Sir John d'Albiac, who, on 21 January 1944, was succeeded by the man most associated with Second TAF, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham. Coningham had great experience of the type of operations required for supporting fast moving ground warfare due to his command of the Desert Air Force in North Africa and Italy. He honed Second TAF into a command up to the challenges presented to it, and incorporated many of the lessons from Italy, including the use of the "cab rank" system for aircraft for close air support, into the doctrine of Second TAF.

The Second TAF did not last long after the war before redesignation. It was renamed as the British Air Forces of Occupation on 15 July 1945. It began as a large force of four groups (2, 83, 84, 85 Groups seemingly); but No. 2 Group RAF disbanded on 1 May 1947. On 1 April 1946, No. 41 Squadron was renumbered as No. 26 Squadron RAF at Wunstorf and it flew Spitfires and Hawker Tempests until April 1949 when it was re-equipped with De Havilland Vampires.

By the end of 1947 2TAF had shrunk to ten squadrons at three airfields, all directly under control of the Air Headquarters at Bad Eilsen.[4] In 1951, the British Air Forces of Occupation reverted to their former name with the re-creation of the Second Tactical Air Force on 1 September 1951.

In November 1953, now at RAF Oldenburg, No. 26 Squadron was converted to Sabres, converting again to Hunters in July 1955, and remained a day-fighter unit until it was disbanded on 10 September 1957. It was reformed with Hawker Hunters at RAF Gutersloh on 7 June 1958 but was disbanded again on 30 December 1960.